This semester in Teaching Literacy, I have come to realize how much teaching literacy truly involves. It is not just reading and repeating what is read, but it is actively reading by making connections to what we already know, making predictions to what the topic is about or what is going to happen, and questioning the content. I am a true supporter of involving many pre-reading, during reading, and after reading strategies in my lessons, and not just for literature, but for subjects like science and social studies that involve reading as well. I realize that time is valuable and limited in schools; however, I feel that if the lesson is planned out right, than a teacher can effectively include a reading strategy to help the student during the lesson.
By learning these different strategies, I feel that my students will become stronger readers as well as stronger students. When I first started school, I struggled with reading. I already had a tutor by the time I was in Kindergarten. My parents supported me and tried so hard to give me the help that I needed. Because of my struggle, I began to start thinking that I was not smart and couldn’t do it. Now that I have overcome my own struggle, and I love to read, write, I have no longer difficulties in school. I have come to realize that none of my teachers ever used strategies such as KWL Charts, Probable Passages, Say Something, or Sketch to Stretch. These strategies and others would have helped me if my teachers used them in their teaching.
As we talked about in my Teaching Literacy class, some students are dependent readers, and they do not automatically become active when they are reading. Being active is key. Since there are students that have difficulty with reading and comprehension and may not overcome it on their own, one of my goals as a teacher is to help them become more active and teach them strategies that they can ultimately use throughout their educational career.
